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The iconic MIT home page Spotlight features a daily-changing image and design that focuses on advances in research, technology and education taking place at the Institute. Though some Spotlights do run multiple days - for example Friday's spot usually runs through the weekend, we work very hard to maintain the daily-changing tradition. We've combed our servers and have compiled a digital archive of the Institute home page through the years - well over 2000 images. Enjoy!
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Depth in taxesToday’s Spotlight features a photograph, taken by Allegra Boverman, of Stefanie Stantcheva, a fourth‑year PhD student in MIT’s Department of Economics.

Now that April 15 has come and gone, most Americans have turned their attention away from taxes. But MIT student Stefanie Stantcheva continues to ponder the trade‑offs associated with taxation.

A fourth‑year PhD student in MIT’s Department of Economics, Stantcheva studies optimal taxation — or, as she puts it, “how to set the tax system to generate revenue for the government while still preserving incentives for taxpayers to work and save, and carrying out whatever society deems to be an appropriate degree of redistribution.”

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The MIT home page Spotlight showcases the research, technology and education advances taking place at the Institute every day.

What makes it as a Spotlight image is an editorial decision by the MIT News Office based on factors that include timeliness, promotion of MIT's mission, the balance of interest to both internal and external audiences, and appropriateness.

We do welcome ideas and submissions for spotlights from community members, but please note we are not able to accommodate all requests. We are unable to run event previews or promotions as spotlights; for those looking to promote an event, we are happy to include your listing as an event headline on the homepage (when space is available) and you are free to submit an Of Note to the MIT News office. For more information, e-mail the spotlight team.

Request a Spotlight, Of Note or Event Headline, here.
Glasses‑free 3‑D TV looks nearer

Glasses‑free 3‑D TV looks nearer

Today’s Spotlight features an illustration by Christine Daniloff/MIT News.

As striking as it is, the illusion of depth now routinely offered by 3‑D movies is a paltry facsimile of a true three‑dimensional visual experience. In the real world, as you move around an object, your perspective on it changes. But in a movie theater showing a 3‑D movie, everyone in the audience has the same, fixed perspective — and has to wear cumbersome glasses, to boot.

Despite impressive recent advances, holographic television, which would present images that vary with varying perspectives, probably remains some distance in the future. Read more